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Irrigation: Making it Work for the Poor ICE Westminster

Friday 22 February 2019

Irrigation can contribute significantly to poverty alleviation, food security, and improving the quality of life for

rural populations. However, irrigation often does not live up to expectations and can also be highly inefficient and

have negative environmental and socio-economic effects, such as water logging and salinization, water and vector

borne diseases, and inequitable access to water. In turn, these negative social and economic impacts can be

compensated through improved planning, implementation and management of irrigation systems.

This meeting explores the linkage between irrigation and drainage, and hunger and poverty alleviation, in which the

poor benefit through higher yields, lower risk of crop failure, adoption of diversified cropping patterns, increased

high‐value and market‐oriented crop production, and fixed employment. Experts will share lessons from various

countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.

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1. Key and Smart Actions to Alleviate Hunger and Poverty through Irrigation and Drainage

Peter Lee (FAO)

Role of ICID Work Bodies

• Internationally ICID is primarily a peer group bringing together key people with different backgrounds.

- ICID is potentially more influential than a group already sharing the same agenda.

• In the context of making irrigation work for the poor, there are two starting points for such a group:

- Growing more food and fibre automatically alleviates poverty, or

- Irrigation can also alleviate poverty more directly, in its rural development role.

ICID Working Group (WG) - POVERTY

• WGs are good for bringing in diverse knowledge to the issues.

• This WG is concerned with the Role of Irrigation on Poverty Alleviation and Livelihoods.

• It was formed initially as a task force in 2007 to;

- Contribute to the 2008 5th World Water Forum topic ‘Water for Food for Ending Poverty and Hunger’,

- It held well-attended workshops in New Delhi (2009), Yogyakarta (2010), Adelaide (2012), and Mardin

(2013), and completed its tenure at Gwangju in 2014.

Rural Development Role of Irrigation

Historically, many irrigation projects were conceived as a means of

pacification, famine relief, rural employment and revenue generation.

More recently, projects have tended to focus on production, rather than

these political and socio-economic purposes. Yet many projects

incorporated watering points, washing steps, buffalo wallows, etc and

retain some of these wider purposes.

Making Irrigation work for the Poor

• There may be poor farmers, but they are rarely the

poorest of the poor.

- There are many who are unable to become farmers,

who are other potential beneficiaries:

1. Either through farm employment and

participation in the value chain, or as

2. Secondary users of the infrastructure.

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Issues to Consider

Context Vulnerabilities

Absolute vs relative poverty Access to water and land

Farmers and the rural poor in general Climate and climate variability

* Relevance of eco-systems Labour and finance

Rural-urban interactions Prices

National and regional contexts Competition for resources

* Generally, not enough attention is paid to

eco-systems.

Living with the seasons

Coping with change

Farmer Suicides become an 2019 Indian General Election Issue

• Previously suicides have been mainly associated with drought.

• But in India, with recent good rains, prices have plunged,

causing some farmers to commit suicide.

• Causes include climate variability, lack of connection with

international markets (that should have moderated earlier high

prices) and debt.

Opportunities

Multiple use of systems

• Multiple use differs from multiple purpose.

• Use of the system is not necessarily just the water.

• Usually informal, and often serendipitous.

Benefits of multiple use

• Winrock (2007) estimated 60-70% of the rural poor in Africa and

South Asia rear livestock, have home gardens and/or engage in

water-dependent small enterprises.

• They estimated the per capita annual benefits from

100 l/h/d of the following multiple uses (separately

and overall), in addition to domestic use.

Serendipity aided

• Unless it is actively discouraged, multiple use of irrigation systems

will just happen.

• But small scale interventions may greatly improve safe access for

all, health (perhaps aided by seepage wells for domestic water),

time savings and a reduction in unplanned and ‘illegal’ multiple use

(improving sustainability).

Employment Opportunities for the Landless Poor

• Development community focused on small units.

- But to be successful, farming needs

1. Skills and assets,

2. Access to resources,

3. Ability to take risks,

4. Commitment.

Nepal - Covered irrigation canal used as footpath

Steps needed in canal lining

Times of India: Farmers protest by

dumping onions on the highways

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- What of those unable to meet these needs?

- How effective are small units in employing the landless poor?

Three examples from Brazil

• All good examples of:

- Professionally run family enterprises.

- None would exist without irrigation.

- Each probably “best in class”.

1. Salad supplier on 6 ha.

2. Fruit and orchard farmer on 618 ha.

3. Vegetable grower on 2,800 ha.

These farm sizes may be larger than those in more resource-rich

agricultural systems (eg humid tropics or large-riparian systems), but

can be compared with each other and maybe other non-riparian

savannah systems.

Small Scale Salad Supplier

• Growing lettuce, coriander, broccoli, okra, spring (bunching) onions

and tomato.

- Also banana and cassava.

• Produce delivered and sold directly.

- 9 supermarkets in the local town.

- Size of market and prices limited.

- Difficult to match supply to demand (glut prone).

• Employs 1.25 people on 6 ha (0.2 jobs/ha).

- Owner plus one helper for 1 week/month.

- Farmer works long hours, so can take no holidays.

- Financially insecure, but more successful than most in this class.

Fruit Farmer

• Grows papaya, banana, rubber and cocoa.

- Successive cropping on 618 ha (part rented).

- Conservation agriculture with micro-sprinkler irrigation.

• Operates through wholesale markets.

- Expansion and replication feasible.

• Employs 220, with 300 at peak (0.3-0.5 jobs/ha).

- Semi-skilled and unskilled job opportunities.

Vegetable Grower

• Grows potato, carrot, onion, maize

and wheat.

- 2,800 ha irrigated by centre pivots.

• Sells directly and through wholesale

markets.

- Packing sheds and delivery to

remote markets.

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• Employs 1,870 people (0.7 jobs/ha).

- Increased from 1,250 two years previously.

- Further expansion and replication likely.

- Mostly employs local people from 3 villages within 20-30 km.

- Many employees are women, and working conditions are excellent and

pretty secure.

Which is more effective?

• Small grower

- Employing 0.2 jobs/ha.

- Long hours and insecure.

- Replication limited by access to skills, assets and markets.

• Medium-large grower

- Employing 0.4 jobs/ha.

- Providing employment for landless unskilled poor.

• Large Producer

- Employing 0.7 jobs/ha.

- Providing better working conditions and higher employment levels for all.

- Able to compete on world markets, big potential.

Agriculture and Poverty

• Agriculture is crucial to rural livelihoods,

- But the prejudice against large units needs to be questioned, especially for resource-poor regions (eg

Africa).

- More people can be employed in better, more secure conditions in large units.

- Small units are fine for subsistence, but poverty eradication will need bigger units capable of generating

wealth.

• Opportunities for unit consolidation need to be part of long term planning:

- Irrigation systems need to be adaptable.

- Not museums of rural poverty.

Making Irrigation work for the Poor

• Irrigation is essential for food security, but it needs better governance and management to ensure resources are

fairly distributed.

- It can also serve the needs of the wider rural community, including the landless poor.

- We need to recognise that in general, farmers are not the poorest of poor.

• To do this we need greater sympathy for multiple use of the infrastructure and eco-system services to enhance

the health and livelihoods of the rural poor.

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2. Lessons in Sustainable Agricultural Groundwater Management

Timothy Foster (University of Manchester)

Groundwater is critical for:

- Mitigating risks of drought and water scarcity,

- Maintaining and improving agricultural productivity,

- Underpinning food security, rural livelihoods and economies.

What is the Challenge?

- Worldwide, there is growing concern about the sustainability of groundwater management, due to:

1. Long-term aquifer depletion,

2. Surface water-groundwater interaction,

3. Groundwater quality and subsidence.

- Contrastingly, areas remain where groundwater potential is under-utilised for irrigation (e.g. East Gangetic

Plain, SE Asia).

Today's Talk

- There are three important factors that influence use and management of groundwater irrigation:

1. Production risk and well yield,

2. Access costs of groundwater,

3. Monitoring and enforcement of water use.

- Examples are taken from 7+ years of research in the United States, and ongoing projects in South Asia (India,

Nepal).

- These examples illustrate parallel issues and provide opportunities for joint learning across these differing

contexts.

Production Risk and Well Yield

- Well yields determine farmers' ability to use groundwater to manage climate risk.

- For smallholder farmers, well yield variability underpins distributional inequalities in drought resilience and

welfare.

Access costs of Groundwater

- There is a large variation in the cost of groundwater for the same hydrologic and institutional conditions,

- Operating costs also depend on how well the wells were drilled and finished off.

- Where energy costs are unsubsidised, some farmers will pay disproportionately more for the same level of

water access.

Monitoring Groundwater Use - The ability to manage groundwater is limited by a lack of understanding about where and how water is being

used,

- This reflects that infrastructure for groundwater irrigation is privately owned,

- Recent efforts have been made to use proxies for monitoring water use, e.g. satellite remote sensing,

- Uncertainties associated with these methods and implications for groundwater governance are poorly

understood.

Key Messages

1. Well yield is the critical link between the natural and human components of groundwater irrigated systems.

2. Costs of accessing groundwater are not uniform, and may contribute to poverty traps for smallholders.

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3. Technical challenges of monitoring water use are under-appreciated in both developed and developing

countries.

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3. Irrigation, Food Security And Poverty: Lessons from Three Large Dams In West Africa

Jamie Skinner, International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED)

Context

- Six Sahelian countries agreed in 2013 to “substantially increase investment in irrigated agriculture and move

from 400,000 ha to 1,000,000 ha by 2020”, at an estimated total cost of more than seven billion U.S. dollars.

- With the cost of building large scale irrigated rice schemes costing $15,000-$20,000 /ha this is a huge and

significant government investment in relatively small numbers of household production systems.

- There was significant pressure from the World Bank to facilitate ‘private investments’.

Introduction

The aim of these studies (2015-2017) was threefold :

1. Analyse the conditions for financial and economic viability of large scale irrigation projects,

2. Ask what effect large scale irrigation has on poverty,

3. Design measures to improve the living conditions of farming families following resettlement due to dam

construction.

Study sites in West Africa

This presentation concentrates on Sélingué dam

only, but farmers were below the poverty

threshold in all three schemes.

Study site – Sélingué (Mali)

- Dam completed in 1982.

- 1,350 ha of irrigated rice – gravity fed.

- Cost of dam : $187 M (2008) (1% < forecast).

- Irrigation cost : $15,500 /ha (127% > forecast).

- Installed capacity : 44 MW.

- Reservoir area : 40,900 ha.

- Storage volume : 2.17 Bm3.

- People displaced : 12,490.

- Average plot allocation : 0.5 ha per family.

Approach and Methodology Types of Farmer - Sélingué

• Identification of farmer types (survey).

• Purposive sample of 10 families per type.

• Survey/questionnaire of household

expenditures and incomes.

• Estimation of relative numbers of each type

of farmer in villages surrounding the schemes.

• Farm income is equal to the value of plant

and animal production (sold or consumed on

farm), less the value of expenditure on goods

and services to produce them, which are of

two types: intermediate consumption (seeds,

fertilisers, veterinary fees, livestock feed and

other inputs, payments to third parties for

services, water charges…) and the annual

depreciation and maintenance of farm

buildings and equipment.

% of

farmers

% of

ricefields

Farmers without their own animal traction 27% 14%

Farmers specialising in irrigated crops 5% 12%

Farmers of rain-fed crops 12% 0%

Farmers of rain-fed and irrigated cereals 28% 33%

“Diversified” farmers 13% 22%

Other rural farmers (fishermen, pastoralists) 5% 4%

Non-rural farmers (civil servants, merchants) 10% 15%

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Agricultural added value - Sélingué Poverty assessment : Sélingué

Poverty remains significant in all three sites Key Issues

1. Access to credit and financing of inputs.

2. Size of plots and allocation policies - plot sizes

need to be 2 - 2.5 ha to be viable.

3. Importance of animal traction.

4. Contribution to national food security.

5. Implications for scheme viability and resilience

to climate change.

1. Financial costs of inputs

Farmers need collateral

guarantees to access finance

from banks.

Interest rates of 12% per

season. No multi-year

finance for equipment.

2. Land allocation and tenure – 0.5 ha at Sélingué

• Government allocates plots to any farmer who can demonstrate that they have the labour and equipment

needed to cultivate (recently in Mali, 4,000 requests : 150 successful).

• Farmers receive oral contracts that can be revoked if water fees are not paid (lack of tenure security).

Irrigated rice

Livestock

Market gardens

Rainfed crops

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• Govt considers that those who receive plots should cultivate them.

• It is illegal to rent or lease plots (but tolerated).

• The initial land allocation « freezes » land tenure throughout the scheme, yet flexibility is critical for

scheme success.

• The least poor farmers are those who are diversified or who have (illegally) accessed larger holdings.

3. Animal and mechanical traction 4. Contribution of farmers to rice market

Collection of Water Fees for O&M

The net added value from rice is too small to recover real

O&M costs.

Governance and Financing are key

1. Much more attention needs to be paid to the

governance of land: « Who cultivates » ? What

is the trajectory for a successful rice farmer

without illegally acquiring additional plots?

How can national policy nurture successful

farmers and grow their operations while

providing a safety net for the poor?

2. If the intention really is to support the poorest

farmers, government needs to focus more on

credit and financing systems for inputs and

mechanisation.

3. Flexible land tenure should allow successful smallholders to grow their operations and not be replaced by

« agri-business ».

4. Significant poverty prevents farmers from investing and compromises O&M costs, affecting scheme

sustainability (never mind recovery of the investment costs of $15,000/ha).

5. Dependence on rain fed systems (and oxen) means that schemes may not be fully climate resilient.

6. Plot sizes need to be 2 - 2.5 ha to be viable.

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4. Farmers/Irrigators in Semi-Arid Lands: What Future?

Peter Newborne, Research Associate, Water Policy Programme, ODI

Drylands (including semi-arid lands*)

• Drylands are often characterised as remote, sparsely-populated places with few economic opportunities. But,

the agricultural and livestock sectors in drylands make significant contributions to national economies:

• e.g. in Kenya, livestock makes up 12% of GDP and employs over 50% of the workforce;

• e.g. the cotton sector in both Pakistan and Burkina Faso contribute 10% to GDP in each country.

• According to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification, drylands cover 41% of the global landmass and

are home to 2.1 billion people.

* Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2005): ‘drylands’ includes hyper-arid, arid, semi-arid

and dry sub-humid zones. The term includes, but is not synonymous with, semi-arid lands.

Future - positive

In a resilient world, currently marginalised areas like drylands will be economically, socially and politically

integrated with the rest of the country, and home to thriving economic activity.

Future - query?

High dependence on agriculture and livestock means the economies of drylands are very exposed to the impacts of

climate change, particularly extreme temperatures and high rainfall variability (IPCC, 2014).

Thus, the way water resources are managed will be either a help or a hindrance.

Question 1

What are the future prospects, in the medium/long term, for farmer-irrigators in semi-arid lands?

Here is one case study in one country as a partial answer - viewed through a broad lens, including political-

economy.

Burkina Faso - in West Africa

Burkina Faso is a very poor

country, with little Government

funding for development projects.

The centre of the country is the

semi-arid zone, with average

annual rainfall of 600 - 900 mm.

The past three decades have seen

signs of increasing temporal and

spatial variability in rainfall

distribution with shorter and more

unpredictable rainy seasons - i.e.

more intense periods of drought,

as well as intermittent flooding, due to short but intense precipitation events.

Agriculture in Burkina Faso is mainly rain-fed, so the shorter rainy seasons are problematic. Even when using

techniques to retain humidity in the soil, rainfed agriculture in semi-arid areas in Burkina Faso is becoming more

and more difficult.

43.7% of the population in Burkina Faso live on less than USD 1.90 per day (2011 purchasing power parity-PPP).

Burkina Faso

Burkina Faso

Low-income country: 185th in ‘HDI’ 2016 (out

of 188 countries)

Life expectancy at birth (females): 60 years

Expected yrs of schooling - females: 7.3 yrs

UK

High-income country: 16th in HDI 2016

Life expectancy at birth (females): 83 years

Expected yrs of schooling - females: 16.7 yrs

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The tax base is correspondingly low: i.e. there is little government funding available for development projects.

The economy is heavily reliant on agriculture: close to 80% of the active population employed in the sector.

Question 2

How are the farming communities in the central semi-arid zone in Burkina Faso seeking to deal with the

climate variability that is already affecting their agriculture?

How much support – financial and technical - can they expect to receive?

Will young community members in rural areas stay and continue farming, or seek other opportunities in the

city? (in how large numbers?)

Water for the city - Ziga Phase 1

In the 15 years to 2000, the population of the city of Ouagadougou doubled to nearly 1 M inhabitants (980,000):

cuts in water supply.

Construction (1998-2000) of the large Ziga dam*, c.50 km to the east of the city, with water main (1 m dia.) for

conveyance of bulk water (4,500 m3/hr, c.40 Mm3/yr**).

* 18.8 m high with an embankment a little over 3 km long.

** Source: the urban water utility, ONEA.

Cost: USD 206 M from the World Bank and ten other international donors, with a small contribution from Burkina

government funds (USD 5.6 M).

The Ziga reservoir flooded the bottom of the Nakambé river valley over 8,000 ha (when full): displaced c.8,500

persons in 17 villages which lost fertile lands, displacing farming onto poorer soils (pressure on the land).

Communities upstream of Ziga dam are prohibited from access to the Ziga reservoir: irrigation use “incompatible”

with the lake’s drinking water purpose (risk of

chemical pollution). Villagers’ drinking /

domestic water is via boreholes.

Ziga water is exclusively for the urban

population of Ouagadougou ...... well mostly

...... any attempts to draw water from the lake

to establish irrigation plots are stopped.

Opportunities/insecurity in rural villages

Some limited opportunities for irrigation downstream of the Ziga dam: out of the river

channel below the dam, depending on spills/releases. But generally, there are

insufficient alternative irrigation options in the area: failure of Govt. to honour

commitment to build/renovate small dams, or do so properly. This caused

considerable local resentment (in an area of high food insecurity).

Irrigation projects in Burkina Faso – working assumption

Study by IWMI (Katic et al, 2014) carried out cost-benefit analysis of irrigation production (rice) at 4 sites in

Burkina and Mali, of small water storage infrastructure in low-lying places (les bas fonds).

These irrigation schemes were, the study concluded, justified in terms of a higher agricultural yields and

agricultural incomes.

The ‘small dams’ (dam wall of less than 1 m high) “allowed farmers to substantially augment economic benefits

derived from agricultural activities” (Katic et al, 2014, page 92).

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IWMI recommendation: more investment needed in small-scale irrigation infrastructure - where local conditions

are suitable - plus support to farmer organisations, training on marketing and strengthening capacity in

infrastructure maintenance.

Opportunities/insecurity in the city - 1

As for the distribution of bulk water around the city of Ouagadougou, post

the Ziga project, where would the additional secondary and tertiary mains

be placed, and the new household connections and standpipes be installed?

Research study was carried out by ODI, in collaboration with

Dr. Claude Wetta, Professor of Economics at the University of

Ouagadougou, funded by WaterAid.

Opportunities/insecurity in the city - 2

There is a major challenge of the provision of

water for people settling in new peri-urban

areas, including slums.

City centre: districts (‘secteurs’) 1 to 12.

‘Peri-urban’ areas where people needed better

water access: districts 13-30.

An analysis revealed patchy provision of

standpipes: lack of targeting in poor districts -

big distances and times for queuing for and

collecting water.

Water services in peri-urban areas

The case for better targeted investment in

improvements in water supply to poor parts

of the city was presented to the World Bank and Government (ONEA, water company) in 2012.

Query: how well will poorer parts of Ouagadougou be served in future?

Water for the city - Ziga Phase 1

A decade later in 2013, the population of Ouagadougou doubled again to nearly 2 M inhabitants: there were further

cuts in the water supply.

Construction of the second mains pipeline (1.2 m dia.) from Ziga to Ouagadougou, more than doubled the

conveyance capacity (without raising the crest of the Ziga dam) (100 Mm3/yr approx. within Ziga reservoir limits).

There is still some room for future capacity growth (when reservoir full). The cost was Euros 159 M from the

World Bank and other international donors. Construction is now completed.

As for the rural population in the Ziga area, still no small dams have been built for them.

What about the equity (or otherwise) of water allocation to the big city and to rural areas?

The Government has a duty in law (a 2001 Act) to oversee how different water demands are to be satisfied, as far

as possible, to the extent that they are complementary, or how they are to be reconciled where competing.

But, after two phases of the Ziga project, the political-economy seems to be clearly tilted in favour of the city.

Powerful actors in the capital have ensured major financial support for water for the urban population.

The rural population: what options?

One option is that members of the communities around the Ziga lake give up farming and go to live in the city (e.g.

Ouaga, an hour down the road).

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An economist colleague at ODI said: “There are more economic opportunities, surely, for young men in the big city

than in struggling and marginalised rural communities”.

We went back to the Ziga area to see how the farmers were doing - especially those expelled from their land in the

valley bottom by the Ziga dam project. Had they given up agriculture and gone to live in Ouagadougou? i.e: our

particular focus was on migration.

We did not look at the economics of irrigation in the Ziga area: we relied on the IWMI study (Katic et al, 2014)

which provided our working assumption.

Findings

9 out of 10 respondents said that one or more family members had migrated: thus an average of 2.6 persons per

household. Migrants are away generally from October/November to March/April, i.e. 6 months.

Destinations: in most cases, a rural location in Burkina (or Côte d’Ivoire) near a dam/water body where they can

access water for irrigation, so as to continue farming; only just a few had migrated to the town. There is actually

little industry in Ouagadougou.

What pushes them to go away? The principal problems facing farming are:-

- lack of access to water for irrigation: «very important»: 98% of respondents;

- «poor/degraded soils»: 90%;

- «dryness and irregular rains» according to 85% et 83% respectively: over the past 15 years, the communities have

observed more intense dry periods.

Migration – implications

What are the implications of this seasonal migration for community life?

A short film (by Manivelle Productions and ODI) was

then presented. «Agriculture and water : testimony

from two villages in Burkina Faso»

The film was originally screened at an event in

Ouagadougou in December 2017.

Stakeholders present: 63 participants from:-

- government;

- civil society;

- research/academia; and

- international organisations.

Several community members took the microphone:

Key messages

1. The challenge of adaptation to climate change is about communities, not just individuals.

2. Burkina Faso needs, as a matter of urgency, to store more water by financing and constructing more

small/medium dams for dry season irrigation … as a complement to the government’s existing support to

‘growth zones’ (pôles de croissance) around large dams: Samendéni, Sourou et Bagré - i.e. a mix of storage

options.

3. Including remedying the particular injustice perpetrated by the Ziga project on the c.8,500 displaced persons.

4. The climatic situation is common to all rural communities.

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5. But will the finance be forthcoming?

The city of Ouagadougou continues to grow…

Independent demographic study: from a population of c.2.5 M in 2015 to 6 M in 2040 and 8 M in 2050. The water

demand is expected to exceed the maximum capacity of the Ziga reservoir (mean ‘useful volume’ of 184.7 Mm3)

some time after 2030.

What future policy directions?

1. Is this the type of growth of Ouagadougou which national policy-makers wish to actively encourage?

2. If so, how - and from where - will there be sufficient finance for water infrastructure to support irrigated

agriculture in rural areas, including the central semi-arid zone of Burkina Faso?

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Reported by

Martin Donaldson